Humans is powered by Vocal creators. You support Michael X. by reading, sharing and tipping stories... more

Humans is powered by Vocal.Vocal is a platform that provides storytelling tools and engaged communities for writers, musicians, filmmakers, podcasters, and other creators to get discovered and fund their creativity.

How does Vocal work?Creators share their stories on Vocal’s communities. In return, creators earn money when they are tipped and when their stories are read.

How do I join Vocal?Vocal welcomes creators of all shapes and sizes. Join for free and start creating.

Adding "K" for "Kink" and Several Other Letters to the Acronym "LGBTQIA": A New Name for the LGBTQIA+ Community?

A Civic Discourse Paper

(photo from The Chicago Tribune)

So recently, I found myself across Katherine Timpf's "Some Activists Want to Turn ‘LGBT’ Into ‘LGBTQQICAPF2K+’ for Inclusion" with the sincere hope that once I clicked the link the whole thing would have been revealed as a joke.

The entire ordeal seems to have started with The Gay UK's article, 'There is now a K in LGBTQQICAPF2K+'. The short piece argues that "out of a need to move away from limiting, the “gay community” adds letters to encompass any community that defines itself as anything but heterosexual or cisgender."

What does LGBTQQICAPF2K+ even stand for?

Well, the original first four letters stand for:

L: Lesbian

G: Gay

B: Bisexual

T: Transgender

And according to multiple sources, the additional part of the acronym means:

Q: Queer

Q: Questioning

I: Intersex

C: Curious

A: (Apparently stands for three things, because having the same multiple letters is too much, even though queer and questioning get their own qs.) Allies, asexual, and agender. (I don't think these three should have been roped together in the first place, but that's a whole other article.)

P: Pansexual

F: Friends and family (Okay.... what?)

2: Two-spirit

K: (And, as previously stated,) Kink

So, in the name of inclusivity, it turns out that several activists are seriously pushing for LGBTQQICAPF2K+ to be publicly recognized as the new name for the current-LGBTQIA+ community.

However, the call to change to LGBTQQICAPF2K+ has mostly been met with strong rejection.

Claire Heuchan, a political activist and blogger, tweets this initial reaction:

Alongside this, she later eloquently tweets: "If the rainbow umbrella covers absolutely everyone, it's meaningless. It's just an umbrella, as opposed to specific shelter designed to protect marginalized people."

The queer community (or should I already start to call it the LGBTQQICAPF2K+ community?) seems to join behind Heuchan's reasoning.

As someone who is pansexual and gender-nonconforming, I believe that the current LGBTQIA+ title is enough. There's no reason to add a bunch of letters when the umbrella term already covers everyone in the queer community.

Also, to point out: are people really considering adding 'allies' and 'friends and family' to the acronym? Being a straight, cisgender supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community doesn't mean that you're part of the community — just like how supporting #BlackLivesMatter doesn't make you "Black."

And the same goes with adding 'kinks.' The BDSM community already has their own way of making people feel included — there's no reason to be lumping them with the queer community. Being queer and enjoying BDSM isn't the same thing.

So, as for me, I think I'll be sticking to LGBTQIA+ for now — the current acronym's one I take pride in.